


s'mores and summer

by intricate_glass_box



Series: Lex and the Actor [3]
Category: markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Cooking Lessons, Established Relationship, Original Character(s), Other, Romantic Fluff, S'mores, Summer, if uh. if s'mores count as cooking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intricate_glass_box/pseuds/intricate_glass_box
Summary: The Actor — having spent the better part of the last century mostly off the grid — has missed out on s’mores. Lex decides they’ll be fixing that (as well as their own craving) as soon as possible.
Relationships: Actor Mark/Original Character
Series: Lex and the Actor [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855654
Kudos: 5





	s'mores and summer

**Author's Note:**

> Clarification on the premise of this fic: A s’mores recipe was first published in 1927 in a Girl Scouts’ book. It’s likely they existed before then in order to make it into the book, and ~1927 is early in the dubious range of time that WKM could’ve taken place, but hey, let’s just assume they weren’t widespread enough for the Actor to hear about them before, y’know, what happened. This was too cute for me to talk myself out of it.

It was summer. Lex and the Actor were out on the patio, laying together in a deck lounger and watching the colors fade from the sky. He lazily stroked their hair; they were cuddled up to his side. 

“I want s’mores,” they said out of the blue, a quiet minute into a lull in conversation. 

“…S’mores?” the Actor asked. He was fairly sure he’d heard them right, but he didn’t know what “s’mores” were.

“Yeah! It’s summer; I haven’t had any… in… okay, well, you know.” Lex brushed off the details as they’d butted up against another lapse in their reality. But that wasn’t important! What was important was it was well into summer and they’d had _no_ s’mores. “Don’t you have a fire pit? Maybe we could make some tomorrow night.” 

Mark looked at them blankly. “What are s’mores?” 

_“…What are s’mores?!”_ Lex repeated, their expression incredulous. 

“Should I know this??” Lex was certainly acting like he should know. 

“Of _course_ you should know this… you roast marshmallows, then you put them on graham crackers with chocolate. If you’ve never had a s’more, we’re going to need to _immediately_ rectify that,” Lex informed him, sitting most of the way up. 

“Huh. That sounds pretty good. I mean, I’ve roasted marshmallows before.” 

“This is way better. This is peak food,” Lex insisted. They pulled out their phone, continuing in a mumble to themself, “…how have you never had a s’more before…”

“I know we have chocolate, but I don’t think we have marshmallows or graham crackers,” Mark said, but Lex wasn’t listening. 

“Oh, that’s why.” They showed him their phone screen. “S’mores were invented in 1927. That’s… _after,_ right?” 

“…Right.” Mark didn’t want to linger on that. “We have chocolate, but I don’t think we have marshmallows or graham crackers,” he repeated. 

“Hmmmmmm. We don’t have the right kind of chocolate, anyway. Needs to be Hershey’s. We’ll have to go to the store. I guess it’ll have to wait until tomorrow night after all,” Lex grumbled, settling back down against the Actor.

He chuckled lightly at their insistence. “Something to look forward to,” he murmured. 

——

Pretty much first thing in the morning, Lex started begging Mark to come to the store with them. (Mark didn’t exactly like leaving the manor, but he’d prefer to go with Lex than them go alone.) He agreed, and all went smoothly: They bought just what they came for — the ingredients as well as some roasting forks Lex had noticed — and retreated.

“So, should I go start the fire?” Mark had asked just after they’d arrived home.

“No way, silly. It’s gotta be evening. Like sunsetish.” 

Mark dismissed the urge to complain that Lex had rushed them for no reason, but did give them a look and a sigh that may have communicated his feelings just as well. 

Lex only smiled back. “Look, it’ll be worth it, I promise.” 

Mark doubted it would be mind-blowing. He may not have had s’mores before, but knowing what roasted marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate tasted like meant he could mostly infer. That being said… Lex was pretty cute excited like this, and if they wanted to wait until night, it was all the same to Mark. He slung an arm around them, pulling them close enough to kiss their face. “If you say so.” 

——

They spent the day together. Lex would periodically look at the clock or the window, more frequently as the day dragged on. When the sun finally started to set, they turned to Mark with sparkles in their eyes. “S’mores time? _S’mooores time?”_

“Well _I_ wouldn’t know; is it?” Mark replied, teasing lightly.

“S’mores time!!” Lex confirmed. “Can you please start the fire?” 

“I will. Meet me beside the fire pit in a few minutes.” 

“Okay! I’ll go get the ingredients!” Lex kissed Mark on the cheek before skipping away to the kitchen. 

The reality-shifting powers that made Mark’s stories so good were useful for more mundane things, as well. He, however, hoped that Lex wouldn’t find out he had no idea how to start a fire the traditional way, so he walked briskly to the patio, hoping that collecting the ingredients would delay them long enough. 

Luckily, he’d successfully arranged for a roaring fire by the time Lex walked out, giving him a bright smile over arms piled full of s’more ingredients, napkins, and paper plates. 

They went to work spreading it out on the table nearby. “Right, so, here’s where I’m going to lead you astray. They _say_ you need to wait until the fire dies down to coals, but I’m impatient, and never do that, and my s’mores turn out great. You just have to be careful about holding the marshmallow just beside the flames, and then be quick about it if it accidentally catches on fire anyway.” 

…Again, he’d roasted marshmallows before; he did know all that, but he let Lex explain and simply nodded along. 

They held out a roasting fork to him. “Here! I like doing two marshmallows. Makes the ingredients ratio tastier,” they explained, adding two onto their fork. Mark followed suit. “And let me make you a base. When I was a kid I was interested in maximizing the amount of chocolate on mine, but really, a quarter-bar is better than a half-bar,” they continued, holding their roasting stick between their legs as they split open the graham crackers and chocolate, making up the s’more bases according to what they considered to be the optimal recipe. 

“Right!! I’ll stop imposing my preferences on you once you have your first one. Then you can make up your own bases. And, I mean, mine too; I just taught you how I like it, after all.” 

“Oh, but you have it down to an art,” Mark teased, like it would be any effort to set one up for them. 

Lex picked up their stick again and went to the fire. “You said you’d roasted marshmallows before, right?” 

Mark nodded. Lex had asked it like an open ended question, but, the memories were with his former friends and his former spouse and he’d rather not discuss the details. 

Lex had learned what it meant when the normally verbose man wasn’t forthcoming with elaboration and knew not to inquire further. It made them a little sad. They didn’t like reminding him of the things that upset him, but at the same time they were disappointed at the lost opportunity to learn more about him. 

Lex tried not to show it, but Actor picked up on their crestfallenness. He stepped to their side of the fire, hoping to move conversation onward. “How’re yours going?”

“They were browning up a little too quickly so I’m trying to be patient and keep them further away long enough for the centers to melt.” 

Mark was looking at Lex’s marshmallows for too long. His caught fire. He yelped, pulling them out and blowing on them to extinguish the flames. 

Lex laughed. “See, now you have to do the same thing.” 

“You know, I could’ve started the fire earlier and had it down to the coals for you,” Mark grumbled. 

“That’s, like, less fun. Where would the _stakes_ be? The _drama_?” Lex, having learned from the Actor’s errors, talked without taking their eyes off their own work. 

Mark laughed. “Whatever you say, my love.”

Soon, Lex spoke up again. “Okay, okay!! I think mine is done. It’s perfect, so you’re getting this one. Your first s’more will not be mediocre on my watch.” They pulled theirs away from the fire before glancing at Mark’s. 

Mark gave them a _look._ “Mine is not _mediocre.”_

“You burnt it! But I’ll eat it; it’s not so bad. It’s just not _perfect_ like _mine_ ,” Lex teased. 

“You’ll see my next one, then,” Mark vowed, pulling his current one away from the fire. “Mine is done too, I think, so if you deem it _worthy…”_

Lex was already over at the table. “Watch this, let me show you how to get it off.” Mark could guess, but he patiently watched as Lex used the blank graham cracker half to slide off the (perfectly golden brown) marshmallows onto the chocolate-topped graham cracker half. “Tada!! One s’more.”

It did look really damn good. “Thanks, Lex,” Mark said, reaching for it until Lex gently put their hand on his. 

“Wait! You gotta give it a few seconds. The chocolate needs to melt. Your first s’more has gotta be _perfect._ Gimme your stick; I’ll make mine in the mean time.” 

“Okay.” 

Lex made theirs, occasionally giving Mark’s a nervous glance. They really did want it to be perfect — he needed to bite into it when the chocolate was just melted, but while the entire s’more was still hot. They figured one additional s’more assembly time would be the right amount. “Okay!! Give it a try. Let me know if it’s good.” They picked up their own.

Mark grabbed his, taking a bite. Immediately, most of the marshmallow squished out the sides, and the chocolate had indeed melted because it was now dripping down his hand. He made a sound, leaning over the plate, but managed to get a balanced bite. It was, as expected, really good, although very sweet. 

Lex giggled a bit, especially when he pulled the s’more away to reveal his face had already gotten a good deal of marshmallow on it, and some of the chocolate had dripped onto his shirt before he’d realized he should stay over the plate.  
But he was nodding, the look on his face revealing he was officially pro-s’more. “This is really good, Lex.” 

“Worth the wait?” 

“Worth the wait.” He took another bite. 

Lex bit into theirs, licking up the marshmallow on the sides. “Goddamn. I love s’mores. Thank you, Mark.” 

“You’re welcome,” he said, although he wasn’t sure why they were thanking him when it had been their idea, and they’d made his s’more. 

“It’s OFFICIALLY SUMMER NOW!” Lex shouted to the sky, and Mark had to laugh lightly. 

He’d finished his. “You’ve got crumbs on your face,” he informed Lex, smiling. 

Lex snorted again. “ _I_ have crumbs? You should see yourself. You’ve even got some on your shirt.” 

“Wha— really?!” He looked down and noticed the chocolate. He was a bit embarrassed but also glad that, since they’d gone to the store, he was dressed casually. 

“Don’t worry about it; it’s part of the fun.” (This was sort of true, but mostly Lex just found it cute.) 

Lex had reloaded their spear with two more marshmallows. “You’ve officially graduated — you’re on your own now. I’m gonna go make my second one. Please make me a landing pad.” 

“Two graham crackers and a fourth-piece of chocolate?” he confirmed. Lex nodded, so he set up both of theirs. “I’m going to try just one marshmallow this time. And I’ll show you how perfectly I can roast it.” 

“Heheh, alright.” 

They roasted a few more. The Actor tried most of the available permutations of ingredients and deciding he slightly preferred the single-mallow with the same amount of chocolate as Lex. It was still awfully sweet, and probably the four he’d had were a little much, so he told Lex he was full. 

“This is my last, too, I think.” It had gotten pretty dark, and Lex had to rely on the light from the fire to assemble their final creation. 

Now that he was done, Mark was trying to wipe his face with a napkin, but the marshmallow-stickiness wasn’t budging. In fact, he thought he might just be getting napkin material stuck to his face. 

“…Dearest,” Lex said with a smirk, noticing his struggles. “Let me help you.” They set down their s’more after taking another bite, then grabbed their water and a clean napkin, dampening it and walking over to Mark. “Here.” They cleaned his face.

He huffed a bit. “I could do that.” 

“Shoosh. Stand still.” With the aid of the water, the marshmallow came off easily, along with the chocolate and the occasional graham cracker crumb stuck in the mix. “There. Now, I’d kiss you, but I’d just undo all my hard work,” they said, taking the last bite of their own s’more. Lex wasn’t quite as messy, but they certainly had the same problem going on. When they were done chewing, they folded the napkin over and cleaned their own face before Mark could attempt to do it in retaliation. “Did you have fun?” they asked with a smile.

“Yes, that was quite fun,” Mark said.

“Yay! Right, so, now I’m full of sugar. What next?” 

“Would you like to watch the fire burn down out here? It’s shaping up to be another lovely night.” 

Lex gave a thoughtful hum. “That would be nice. We should clean this up, first, before it gets too dark. Can you get the marshmallow off these?” Lex asked, handing Mark both skewers. 

Mark cleaned them off as Lex boxed up the remaining s’more materials and took them back to the kitchen. When they returned to Mark, they suggested, “Let’s sit a bit away from the fire — it’s hot here,” so Mark set the sticks aside and pulled two of the chairs back far enough to be out of the heat. 

The stars were out by then. Mark and Lex laid back looking at them as the fire crackled away. Their eyes weren’t entirely adjusted to the dark because of the fire, and the light and pollution from the city some miles away certainly masked the view regardless, but all the brighter stars were visible and it was still beautiful. 

They chatted about the city, and about the stars, and about s’mores, other sweet treats, and camping, about (not) much of anything until the fire had burned down to coals. A comfortable lull fell between them. Lex was listening to the bugs — the summer chorus of crickets was slightly distant-sounding because the patio was raised up above the grounds. They were trying to see if, past that, they could hear the noise of the city. 

“…Didn’t fall asleep, did you?” Mark asked softly. 

“No, no. Just listening.” They were quiet again, as if adding the background soundtrack to the end of their sentence. Mark listened, and heard the bugs like they had. And, like they had, it made him think of the space beyond the manor. Over the grounds, and further until it reached his distant neighbors in the town and the city beyond. He rarely thought about that.

He reached out a hand, into the space between their lounge chairs. Lex heard more than saw the movement, but took it, clasping his. “See? It’s summer now.” 

The Actor hummed. “Indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> I may be an Actor simp. I may yearn. It's possible.


End file.
